Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Petty Tyrants.



Today, I will write about something about which this image perfectly represents (in my opinion): petty tyrants. They are defined by Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan book series as: "A petty tyrant is a tormentor.. Someone who either holds the power of life and death over warriors or simply annoys them to distraction." However, they are so much more than that.
Since I can remember, I have always had someone who pestered me, annoyed me or just plain tortured me - physically, verbally, emotionally, and mentally - and yes, even spiritually. I never knew nor understood why. I started believing that something in me must've been attracting these people; that was, before I read Carlos Castaneda's books.
Even now, I still experience annoyance and harassment by one. Currently, there is a crazy woman who works in my apartment building that for a week straight - has banged on my door hard enough to make it shake once and last night, twice, a day. 
Why? Well, the truth of it is I have no idea. She will not call, she will not leave a note. Yesterday she began to shout for me to 'open up' and 'let her in' over the yapping of my two small dogs. 
Because she was acting so unstable, I was afraid for my and my dogs safety and hence I have refused to open the door and have had a third party contact the owner of said building.
Immediately after said third party contacted the owner, she retaliated by sending a maintenence man to my door at 8 at night - when I was trying to get ready for bed. Again, I did not answer the door because he, too, was acting unstable and I did not feel safe.
I am now losing sleep over this because it has only gotten more severe as time passes. When I lose sleep, my immune system is even worse than usual - and I catch a cold. 
That's happened. It is outright harassment and I now realize that she is a petty tyrant - which is what inspired me to write this post.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm giving you just a small example of what a petty tyrant can be - although depending on how you look at it, it could also be perceived as an extreme example.
Moving on.



"Nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the challenge of dealing with impossible people in positions of power."

The above quote explains a lot about what petty tyrants are. They are normally a person - man or woman, whatever age or social/economical background, it doesn't matter - with a little or a lot of power.
More than once I have had them in the form of an apartment building manager or employee. A few other examples that I've personally experienced are pharmacists, Walmart and grocery store check out employees, bus drivers. The list goes on and on.
About 99 percent of the time they will just annoy or harass you. Sometimes they will insult you in the process. Rarely, but it does happen (so I've heard) - they can take the form of drug/sex/human traffickers, serial killers, hostage takers, and criminals in general that can and may just take your life or severely hurt you. I have been accused of being a drug addict by a pharmacist for no reason whatsoever - this person had just met me and had made their own assumptions. That's the insulting part I speak of. They then refused to give me my medication for a week because "my insurance wouldn't cover it". It was a lie; they would, and I had to call them on it and I then received my medication - after a couple days worth of dangerous withdrawal that could've killed me.
Over all, think of a petty tyrant as a way to build patience as well as mental, emotional and spiritual endurance. However bad it may seem on the outside, it is to eventually bring you to the next spiritual level. Do not give up. Deal with it directly if at all possible - a lot of times, the problem will only worsen if you avoid it. I admit; I have a problem with that myself. Don't be like me. :]

For more information, refer to this and this for references and a better explanation than I can provide. Also, obviously, buy (support your local bookstores!) or check out from your local library Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan series. While they are fairly old books, they are readily available and have a lot of extremely valuable and useful information in them. You may find the one that specifically talks about petty tyrants here, and the rest of them here.
Please do not try the techniques you see in these books at home. They are educational and useful in theory but as the techniques are only half-explained in book form, it would be dangerous and damn right stupid to try them.
If my dear readers have any questions, comments, feedback or experiences they would like to share with me about the above topic, please email them to celestialdoorway@yahoo.com. I will almost always answer right away.





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